63-year-old Pinay who was allegedly harassed by U.S. immigration officers in Seattle should sue them, advises Bureau of Immigration head

Jojo Malig of ABS-CBNNews.com reports that Bureau of Immigration head Atty. Siegfred Mison said that Carina Yonzon Grande-the 63-year-old Filipina who suffered abuse at the hands of immigration officers at the Seattle International Airport-can sue for either civil or criminal damages.

Mison made the statement during his October 9 ANC Top Story interview. "Any state has the absolute power to allow any people to enter or deny entry. [But] based on the story of Miss Grande, the process on how she was denied entry was kind of irregular," Mison said.

The report noted: "Grande, who went to the US to attend her daughter’s wedding, was prevented from entering the country despite having complete and valid travel documents." Despite the fact that all her papers were in order and it was her 13th time to be in the U.S., she claimed that they "held her for six hours without food or water and accused of being a liar and an illegal immigrant out to work as a domestic helper." They eventually made her choose between going to jail and being deported back to the Philippines. Grande chose the latter because she was mentally and physicall spent by the time they got through with her.

The ABS-CBNNews.com report also pointed out: "The US-based non-government organization Immigration Policy Center has documented many cases involving US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents overstepping their authority and violating basic constitutional protections and the human rights of immigrants and US citizens."